Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022 edition - Flipbook - Page 155
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022
I. State and future
of Offshore Wind Projects
Korea’s fledgling offshore wind market
continues to show encouraging signs. The
current Moon Administration is the first to
take an active interest in renewable energy
and has set an ambitious target of achieving
77.8GW of installed capacity and 26.3% of
the power generation from new and
renewable energy sources by 2034.
With the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s
surprisingly strong electoral gains in the
National Assembly in April 2020, the Blue
House has taken up the party’s rallying cry to
implement a Green New Deal for Korea (the
“Green New Deal”), first introduced as a
campaign pledge in the run-up to the 2020
elections. The Green New Deal calls for the
investment of KRW 73.4 trillion to create
659,000 jobs in green energy sectors by
2025 and aims to catalyze Korea’s green
economy to create jobs, quicken recovery
from COVID-19-related economic
sluggishness and revitalize Korea’s industrial
base and export industries.
The government provided an early glimpse
of how it intends to implement Green New
Deal objectives in offshore wind when, on
July 17, 2020, the Ministry of Trade,
Industry and Energy (the “MOTIE”), the
Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (the
“MOF”) and the Ministry of Environment
(the “MOE”) jointly issued a “Plan for
Offshore Wind Power Generation in
155
Collaboration with Local Residents and the
Fishing Industry” (the “OSW Collaboration
Plan”). The OSW Collaboration Plan (i) calls
for the installation of 12GW1 of offshore wind
power, creating 87,000 new jobs annually,
by 2030 to become one of the world’s five
largest offshore wind power generating
countries and (ii) pledges to implement
policies to share the economic benefits of
offshore wind development with local
residents and Korea’s fishing industry. Given
the relative importance of offshore wind in
Korea’s overall renewable energy transition,2
the OSW Collaboration Plan is tantamount
to a de facto implementation plan for Korea’s
Green New Deal.
Korea’s institutional commitment to its
energy transition was further solidified with
a flurry of energy policy announcements in
the fourth quarter of 2020, which included
President Moon’s announcement that Korea
plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,
the introduction of a new piece of legislation
in the National Assembly that would codify
this commitment and the release of two
long-term energy policy plans (the 9th Basic
Plan on Supply and Demand of Electricity
(the “S&D Basic Plan”) and the 5th Basic
Plan for New & Renewable Energy (the “RE
Basic Plan”). In September 2021, with the
enactment of the Framework Act on Carbon
Neutrality and Green Growth, Korea’s 2030
Nationally Determined Contribution (which
calls for the reduction of at least 35% of
national greenhouse gas emissions from
1
As compared to the 124.5MW currently in operation.
2
Korea is mountainous and densely populated, but its coastline is 2,413 kilometers long and areas of high electricity demand are relatively
close to the coastline. Beyond the 12GW of installed offshore wind capacity for 2030, the government’s 2034 target of 20GW is even more
ambitious.